One of the highlights of last year was receiving a Developing Your Creative Practice (or DYCP) grant from Arts Council England. This is a recurring fund that allows individual artists and writers to apply for money to work on a project that will help their creative practice change or evolve.
My project will focus on writing about place, specifically the urban landscapes of my hometown of Middlesbrough. The plan is to write a collection of short stories set in locations in and around the town, before producing a short, spoken word film featuring one of the stories and filmed in the actual setting.
As part of the project, I’m hoping to include a co-creation element, by inviting local people to share their favourite locations and think about what Middlesbrough means to them. While I’ve lived in the town my whole life, I don’t just want to share the places that mean something to me, I want to include places that inspire others too, to present a rounder more authentic picture of what life here is like. These won’t be the obvious places, the ones Middlesbrough is known for, like the Transporter Bridge or the Riverside Stadium. I want to write about the liminal spaces, the less well know places, the locations that are easy to overlook. It might be a striking piece of graffiti, a park bench in an interesting location, or an obscure walk. If you’re local and you’d like to share a place, you can submit suggestions here.
To help with the project, I’ll be spending this year working with a mentor, who will offer thoughts and guidance on the project, and feedback on my writing. I’m working with The Literary Consultancy for these sessions (spoiler: I currently work part-time for them too, so I know their mentoring programme is excellent).
I’m hoping to check in here as the project develops and share information about some of the places I’ve chosen to write about and the stories I’ll be telling. You can also follow the journey over on Instagram @WritingMiddlesbrough.
It’s exciting to have a grant that will allow me some dedicated time to write this year, and I can’t wait to explore some of the urban landscapes that define my hometown.